Big Red and Brits take on M. Track

Penn hopes to reach full stride against Brit visitors and Cornell. While the Penn men's track team competes in more than a dozen indoor and outdoor meets every year, the entire season is very much mere preparation for the next several weeks. The Penn Relays, which mark the beginning of a frenzied month-long stretch that includes the Heptagonal Championships and IC4As, are now just eight days away. So how could the Quakers possibly be motivated for their battle with Cornell in a dual meet this Saturday at Franklin Field? "We're not going to kill ourselves out there," freshman high jumper David Arundel said. That doesn't mean the Red and Blue will just roll over this weekend -- not when they're coming off of last week's lackluster effort at Villanova. The Quakers are not only anxious to atone for the Villanova Invitational. They also want to make up for what much of the team viewed as a disappointment the week before their meet on the Main Line. "I'm looking forward to this weekend to see if we can rebound from the letdown at Princeton," senior distance runner Scott Clayton said. In preparation for the Penn Relays, Clayton will run the 5,000-meters this Saturday rather than the 1,500, in which he has competed for most of the season. The Quakers are also glad to be back on their home track, which is the site of next week's Relays as well as Heps in mid-May. "There's no reason not to be prepared for the Cornell meet," Clayton said. "We're back on our home track, and it's a great place for us to compete." There is an added incentive for Penn to perform well against the Big Red that hasn't existed in previous years. Nathan Taylor was an assistant under Penn head coach Charlie Powell for 11 years before he accepted the head position in Ithaca last summer. When the Quakers traveled to Cornell during the indoor season, Taylor proved just how much he wanted to beat his former team when he stacked all of his best athletes against an already undermanned Penn squad. Clayton said that the rivalry between the two schools, while significant, is probably more important to the Big Red since they aren't quite at Penn's level. "People always consider themselves to be rivals with someone who's a little better than them," said Clayton, who pointed out that Penn holds slightly-superior Princeton in a similar regard. One thing that could alleviate some of the tension swirling around Franklin Field this weekend is the presence of a third team -- from Birmingham, England. The English team will be wrapping up its three-week trip to the United States this Saturday. "Having the British guys around will keep us loose," said a smiling Clayton, as he donned a Birmingham practice jersey that he obtained a couple of years ago when the Quakers paid a visit to the United Kingdom. Clayton said the Birmingham team will keep the Red and Blue laid back because the two teams will be living and training together for the few days immediately preceding the meet. The Quakers' performance this weekend, though, could very well determine just how relaxed the team is when they host the world in next week's prestigious Penn Relays.